Holtz



July 19, 1955 J, HOLTZ 2,713,386

FASTENING MEANS FOR CHAIR BACK Filed Feb. 19, 1954 INVENTOR JACOB HOLTZ ATTOR NEY United States Patent 2,713,386 FASTENING MEANS FOR CHAIR BACK Jacob Holtz, Philadelphia, Pa. Application February 19, 1954, Seriai No. 411,407 2 Claims. (Cl. 155-196) My invention relates to a chair of the type which includes a frame formed of bent pipe or rod and a seat and back rest carried by the frame.

The frame of the chair referred to is produced by bending a piece of pipe or rod, to form the legs to form a horizontal seat support, and to form back-rest supports.

The rack rest of the chair is conventionally provided with blind holes into which the upper ends of the vertical supports are inserted and lugs or clips are welded onto said vertical members to form supports to which the bottom edge of the back rest is secured.

Because of price limitations, it is not possible to produce the chair frame to close tolerances and the same is true of the holes provided in the back rest of the chair for receiving the vertical supports. Therefore, more often than not, when the rack rest is applied to the vertical supports its bottom edge does not properly register with the lugs or brackets which were welded on the vertical supports during the manufacture of the frame.

To first align the back rest with reference to the vertical supports and then to mark the same and then to weld the back rest supporting lugs in position will also greatly increase the cost.

It is therefore the object of the invention to provide improved means for rapidly and accurately securing the back rest of a chair to the back rest vertical supports of the frame whereby a good finished chair is produced without precision manufacture of the parts concerned and whereby the cost of assembly is decreased.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the following specification and the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the fastening means of my invention for securing the back rest of the chair to the corresponding frame members.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, exploded, sectional view showing the first step in using the fastening device of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is similar to Fig. 2 but shows the second, and last step in using the said fastening device.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the manner in which the back rest of the chair is applied to the frame by the improved fastening device of my invention.

The fastening device of Figs. 1 to 3 includes a body member which is sufficiently rigid but not brittle, and which is preferably of the shape shown in Fig. 1. The body member 10 has an arcuate opening 12 formed near one end thereof and has a tongue 14 struck up out of it, said tongue being separated from the body by slits 16. The tongue 10 has an opening 18 therein for the passage of a screw 20.

To fasten the back rest 22 of a chair to the upper, back rest supports 24 according to my invention, one fastening device is slipped over each vertical supports 24 by passing the vertical supports through the openings 12. The back rest is then slipped over the vertical supports so that they enter openings 26 provided in the lower portion of the back rest 22. It will be noted that the ends of tongue 14 are arcuate as at 28 and have the same radius as openings 12. The chair is now turned upside down, as shown in Fig. 4 and the back rest 22 is placed in a jig 30. The fastening devices are now moved down as shown in Fig. 4 until they abut the bottom edge 32 of the back rest 22. The screws are driven into the bottom of the back rest and are tightened until the tongue 14 is flattened as shown in Fig. 3. Flattening of each tongue 14 causes its arcuate edge 28 to creep until it engages the adjacent back rest support 24 as best shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

2,713,386 Patented July 19, 1955 Since the back rest is automatically and accurately aligned by the jig and since, before tongue 14 is flattened, the fastening devices are freely movable on the back rest supports 24-, it follows that, by merely bringing the fastening members into contact with the bottom edge 32 of the back rest and driving home the screws 20, the fastening devices will secure the back rest to the back rest supports without any previous measurement. Also, while my fastening means will hold the back firmly, it is readily detachable by backing out of the retaining screw 20. Since the jig accurately locates the rack rest with reference to the back rest supports, it follows that the fastening devices are really self locating. It will also be seen that the back rest is thus secured to the back frame with the desired accuracy even tho the back frame members, or the holes 26 in the back rest, or both, are not manufactured to close tolerances.

What I claim is:

1. For use with a chair the frame of which includes spaced vertical supports and the back rest of which has holes extending upwardly from the bottom thereof for receiving said supports to mount said rack rest on said supports a fastening device for securing each of said supports to the bottom of said back rest, each of said devices including a body portion having an arcuate opening formed therein, a tongue having one end thereof carried by said body portion and having its free end disposed near said opening, said tongue being arched originally and being of such length that, when it is in its arched condition, the free end of said tongue coacts with the wall defining said arcuate opening to form an enclosure of a diameter larger than the diameter of the support passing therethrough, and when said tongue is in its flattened condition, the free end of said tongue moves toward the wall defining said arcuate opening and in the plane of said wall to make the diameter of said enclosure smaller than the diameter of said support, said tongue having a hole therein for the passage of a screw whereby, the head of a screw passing through said hole and engaging the bottom of said back rest will engage and flatten said tongue and force its free end into engagement with said support.

2. For use with a chair the frame of which includes spaced vertical supports and the back rest of which has holes extending upwardly from the bottom thereof for receiving said supports to mount said back rest on said supports, fastening devices for securing said back rest to said supports, each of said fastening devices including an elongated body portion having a keyhole-shaped opening formed therein, with the round portion of said opening at one end of said body portion, a tongue carried by the other end of said body portion with its sides and its end free of the wall defining said opening, the end of said tongue facing the round portion of said opening being arcuate, a portion of the body of said tongue intermediate its ends being arched above the plane of said opening with the arcuate end of the tongue spaced from the round portion of said opening to provide a passage for freely receiving said support, the arched portion of said tongue having a hole therein for the passage of the shank of a screw therethrough, whereby, the head of a screw passing through said hole and engaging said back rest, will engage and flatten said arched portion to force the arcuate edge thereof into engagement with said support.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 639,781 Sleeth Dec. 26, 1899 799,989 Klein Sept. 19, 1905 938,682 Meleady Nov. 2, 1909 1,594,223 Thomas July 27, 1926 1,828,876 Rohn Oct. 27, 1931 2,306,878 Greitzer Dec. 29, 1942 

